Thank Bob for Time-sert

My 550 decided that it didn`t really like having a spark plug in the No.2
cylinder.

It`s always been a little stiff when putting a new plug in, even
copperslipped up it`s never really been happy. So, when No.2 plug just gave
that sickening spin instead of tightening down upon the washer, I was not
that surprised.

Anyway, off to the local bike shop. Lots of grease, an airline/vacuum, a
clean up and £20 later, a nice steel insert takes the place of the
chocolately aluminium that Mr.Honda makes his heads out of. Works a treat.
The plug felt so much happier going into it`s new home this time. As smooth
as a politicians promise.

Happiness.

The moral of the story? Time-sert *rocks*.

 

Thus spake Loz H unto the assembled multitudes:

My old Triumph Tiger 650 once had a slightly more spectacular, but
thankfully not so serious case of spark-plug rejection. One day I was
riding along, cool as you like, when suddenly PHWAAAAAAA BLAT BLAT BLAT
blat blat blat" the left hand plug popped out and hung by its HT lead down
by the crankcase. The Tiger was quite fond of shaking things loose, but it
had never shaken off a sparkie before. Funny thing is, the plug must have
been slowly unthreading itself for miles, but I hadn't noticed any loss of
compression. Made sure the plugs were nice and tight after that

 

Heh - the exact same thing happened to me when I was riding my Z400
twin down the M40 when I was 19. It was just the noise that alerted
me to it - the spark plug (still attached to its HT lead) hit me in
the knee - hard!

 

The saviour of many a poor mechanic.

At Park Lane the occasional lame customer would innocently drop his K bike
in for service. We would find a cam cap fastener or plug that wouldn't
tighten down and of course they knew nothing about it and it was all our
fault. I think we called them Tru-serts back then, with practice you could
have the buggers repaired and off the bench within standard time. Yeah yeah
I know the head should have come off for plugs but what are vacuums for...

 

Heh. I would be the first to admit I`m not the best spannerer around, but
I`ve always been careful where plugs and threads are concerned, especially
where soft ali is involved. This is the first one I`ve come across. )
Theres a few signs of abuse on this particular head though. An esoteric
collection of bolts in the rocker cover, with one of em missing due to no
thread, plus a story of an emergency cam-cap repair from the previous owner.
It`s a good botch job whilst it remains undisturbed....

Handily, I have a good head and rocker cover here to replace em with when I
finally get around to buying a top-end gasket kit. Only been saying this for
the last 6 months..

Heh. Luckily, the local shop to me is quite experienced at these inserts,
and the grease/vacuum trick is one that he`s good at.

Besides, I could never get away with that servicing trick. They know I`m far
to tiight-arsed to pay someone else to service my bikes..

 

<AOL>

Vespa PX200E. Put-putting happily away, followed by a "Bdoink!" noise and
loss of power. Take the sidepanel off to find the plug hanging happily on
the lead. No damage, just a break for freedom on behalf of the plug.

 

My 550 decided that it didn`t really like having a spark plug in the No.2

My C15 popped it's spark plug through my neighbours lounge window!

I was not popular.

 

IamTheWalrus says...

I'm surprised it had the power to even pop it off the threads